When the legislative session begins next month, freshman state Rep. Jack Tate will be Sen. Jack Tate, after a Republican vacancy committee promoted the Centennial lawmaker to fill the Senate District 27 seat over the weekend.

Tate will replace David Balmer, who resigned to care for a sick family member and to become political director of state campaigns for the Humane Society Legislative Fund.

“Experience in the House and an extensive background in business and engineering, along with the high marks he receives from Republican colleagues, means that Senator-elect Tate can be an impact player for us right away,” Senate President Bill Cadman said in a statement Monday. “We expect him to step right in and play a key role in moving our agenda forward in the 2016 session.”

State Rep, Joe Salazar posted a picture of a meeting Thursday night and his thoughts on a proposed ballot initiative to change how Colorado maps its congressional districts.

A group of Democrats and Republicans interested in changing how Colorado maps its congressional districts are working out the details of a proposed ballot initiative, but outside groups are angered that they’re not part of the process, and they suspect bad motives.

A meeting convened Thursday by Democratic state Sen. Jessie Ulibarri and Reps. Joe Salazar and Angela Williams raised opposition to using a bipartisan, independent commission to draw the maps, instead of the current system. (Every 10 years the legislature changes the boundaries based on the latest census, a process that tends to break down into partisan squabbles eventually settled by the courts.)

Suspicions about motives to change the system have been deep since it was announced last month. A compromise last week to keep existing language on how the courts should draw up boundaries to protect minority voters has done little to appease those who say their input has not been welcomed.

Jon Keyser, R-Morrison ,on his first day as a state legislator on Jan. 7, with his wife, Emma, and daughter, Elleanor.

State Rep. Jon Keyser’s political career has come a long way fast. This time a year ago the then-33-year-old had never introduced a bill, having just won a seat in the Colorado legislature a month before.

Now people who are not named Jon Keyser are saying he is the Republican who can knock off incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, despite a growing field of other Republicans in the race. Jefferson County Commissioner Donald Rosier jumped in the race Thursday, joining El Paso County Commissioner Darryl Glenn, former Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier, former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez and state Sen. Tim Neville of Littleton.

Colorado House Democratic Leader Crisanta Duran participated in a program on international refugees in Germany last month.

Colorado House Democratic leader Crisanta Duran of Denver got a close view of the international refugee crisis when she took part in the Transatlantic Migration Study Tour to Germany last month.

The trip would hit closer to home than she expected.

“On the day I left, Governor Hickenlooper took a courageous position, proclaiming Colorado would welcome Syrian refugees while working with Homeland Security to ensure the national verification process is as stringent as possible,” Duran wrote in an essay about the refugee crisis. “In a political landscape where governors and politicians throughout the country were racing to microphones to see who could reject these refugees the fastest, our governor stood up for public safety and rejected the politics of fear.”

WASHINGTON — The VA would be allowed to sell a piece of property it owns in Paris — now the site of a ritzy hotel — under legislation introduced this week by U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Aurora.

The Paris property has come under scrutiny since the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced earlier this year that it would need hundreds of millions of dollars more to pay for a new VA hospital in Aurora. Coffman and other lawmakers have wanted the VA to dig into its own pocket to help pay for it.

“VA needs to get out of the overseas hotel business and focus on serving our veterans,” said Coffman in a statement.

The VA building in Paris, known as Pershing Hall, was used by Gen. John J. Pershing during World War I and was later purchased by the American Legion before the VA took it over in 1991.

Colorado state Rep. Angela Williams, a Denver Democrat, has been named legislator of the year by a Black Caucus for state legislators in the West. (Denver Post file photo)

State Rep. Angela Williams received some glowing reviews in Los Angeles last weekend. The Democratic lawmaker from Denver was named the National Black Caucus of State Legislators Region XII Legislator of the Year.

NBCSL’s Region XII is made up of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah and Washington. Williams received the award Saturday at the National Black Caucus of State Legislators conference.

“Rep. Angela Williams represents the kind of leadership that makes NBCSL proud,” the organization’s president, Catherine Pugh, a senator from Maryland, said in a statement. “Her legislation focused on improving police and community relations in her state and will be emulated across the country. It has earned her the regional legislator of the year by NCBSL.”

The organization also cited Williams’ work on minority issues, including her leadership on creating and passing a package of police-reform bills in the last session. The NBCSL also recognized “her efforts in promoting equality for minority owned businesses,” a press release said.

Former Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, who is now Colorado Springs’ mayor, will be among the first to receive a Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medal Thursday night.

Thursday night at the Governor’s Mansion, Gov. John Hickenlooper will congratulate the first class of recipients of the Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medal.

The group of the governor’s honorees includes former Colorado attorney general and current Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. Hickenlooper created the medal by executive order, with the support of former governors, to honor Coloradans who, according to the order, “inspire future generations to serve the interests of the state.”

U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter didn’t arrive down a chimney and he’s way too thin be confused with the jolliest old elf, but Saturday marked the eighth year in a row the jovial politician has celebrated the holidays with his constituents.

About 140 people showed up on a sunny December Saturday afternoon for his annual open house at his district office on West Colfax Avenue in Lakewood. It’s hard to construe it as a campaign event, since it’s looking increasingly unlikely that Perlmutter will attract a quality Republican challenger next year. (Though political speculators around the statehouse won’t be surprised if he jumps in the governor’s race for 2018; Ed hasn’t said, and those close to him say he’s awfully energized about his current job.)

The $305 billion highway transportation funding bill that Congress passed and sent to the White House has a lot for Colorado to love, besides unsticking much-needed transportation money for state projects. The five-year Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act restores a crop-insurance subsidy that’s available to Colorado farmers and renews the Export-Import Bank, which extends help to small businesses in the state.

Maybe no one was happier about the funding bill — the longest transportation funding bill in 17 years — than U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat from Arvada.

“This bipartisan legislation will provide $281 billion in guaranteed funding for highway, transit and transportation safety programs over the next five years, including more than $3.4 billion in direct highway and transit formula funds for Colorado,” he said.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.